MINUTES OF A REGULAR MEETING AND PUBLIC HEARING OF THE CORNWALL PLANNING AND ZONING COMMISSION HELD ON APRIL 11, 2006.

A Regular Meeting and Public Hearing of the Cornwall Planning and Zoning Commission was held at 7:30 pm on Tuesday, April 11, 2006, in the Cornwall Town Hall. Present were: members David Colbert, Patrick Hare, Chris Hopkins, Anne Kosciusko, Richard Lynn and alternates, James LaPorta and Emilie Pryor (arrived 7:45). No alternates were needed at the outset of the meeting. Land Use Administrator Karl Nilsen, Land Use Clerk Colin Gold, and Town Planner Tom McGowan were also present.

PUBIC HEARING

Special Permit William Paley, Poughkeepsie Road

#195 To create a private street

Resubdivision William Paley, Poughkeepsie Road

To subdivide 10.354 acres into two lots

LUA Karl Nilsen declared that the Public Hearing for Special Permit # 195 and the Public Hearing for Resubdivision should take place at the same time since they were intertwined.

Bill Manasse, Esq., representing William Paley gave an update of the process on Poughkeepsie Turnpike. He submitted proof of mailings to abutting property owners in the form of Certified Mail receipts. He repeatedly remarked on the uniqueness of the situation, as the property is located on a “Discontinued Road.” Rick Lynn queried as to whether other parcels would be granted access to this private street, and whether the Town would be allowed to purchase the private street in the future, if necessary. Mr. Manasse assured the Commission that Mr. Paley was willing to widen his portion of Poughkeepsie Turnpike to comply with private road dimensions. Chris Hopkins asked about drainage of the road. Mr. Manasse replied that Inland Wetlands had already signed off on the project. He read a letter from Town Attorney Tom Byrne which stipulated that paid compensation must be allotted to all property owners if the subdivision was not allowed based on the “discontinued road” status. Commission members had more questions about the widening of the road where it joined Pierce Lane. David Colbert enquired about the open space requirement. Mr. Paley said he would pay the 5 percent, but he intended to keep both lots and not sell them. Anne Kosciusko asked if there was anyone who wanted to speak about the application. Richard Bramley, another Poughkeepsie Turnpike resident, was concerned about his right to pass and the private street requirements, as they related to Mr. Paley’s application. Mr. Manasse was permitted a rebuttal. He reiterated that the problems being experienced did not stem from Mr. Paley’s application, but from the status of the road as a “discontinued road”. He said that the road is there as is, so drainage and contours should not be an issue, and that the widening, if necessary would be done by Mr. Paley. David Colbert wanted Mr. Manasse to clarify if he thought the Town had a right to require improvements of the road. Mr. Manasse said that requiring an upgrade of the road up to Mr. Paley’s second lot (Lot 1) would probably be lawful, but it would create more problems than it solved, such as the responsibilities of other Poughkeepsie Turnpike residents to upgrade the rest of the road if they ever subdivided their property. Chris Hopkins asked if the upgrade would be done to private street standards. Mr. Manasse said the widening would be done to regulation standards on Mr. Paley’s side of the road, as they did not want to encroach on the parcel across the road. Richard Bramley re-emphasized his concern about the issues he raised earlier. Karl Nilsen acknowledged that there was detail missing on the submitted plans for how the private street was going to be upgraded. This detail should be investigated and included. He suggested that Mr. Manasse write a request for the hearing to be kept open until the next scheduled P&Z meeting. Mr. Manasse complied and submitted the letter to the Land Use Clerk. Rick Lynn restated that the missing details were specifics for drainage. The motion to keep open the Public Hearing for the Paley Resubdivision and Special Permit #195 (to create a private street) were carried. Karl asked that the new details be submitted at least one week prior to the next hearing so he could look them over.

REGULAR MEETING

The Minutes of the Regular Meeting and Public Hearing of March 14, 2006 were approved as circulated. The Minutes of the Special Meeting of March 30, 2006 were approved as circulated.

Emilie Pryor asked that Commission members be emailed about Special Meetings.

APPLICATIONS FOR ZONING PERMITS

The monthly report of zoning permit activity by staff was briefly reviewed

OLD BUSINESS

The Paley applications had already been addressed, so were not spoken on again.

There was no one from the Nature Conservancy present at the meeting, and Rick had not yet received a Buildout Analysis map from them, so he said he would follow up with them. James LaPorta summarized for various Commission members what the Conservancy had offered to the Town, in terms of services.

David Grossman summarized some of his work on the next edition of statistics and report about Cornwall, called “Cornwall in the Zeroes”. He said he could easily be done before the end of the summer.

Commission members agreed that the fourth Tuesday of the month will be set aside for Planning meetings, while the second Tuesday meetings will be reserved for Zoning issues. Both meetings will take place at 7:30 in the Town Hall.

A motion was carried to change the order of the agenda to address the Vanicky resubdivision before the rest of Old Business.

NEW BUSINESS

Resubdivision Paul Linc., Cornell Jr., Trustee, Ballyhack Road

James & Susan Vanicky, Applicants

To divide 36.44 acres into two lots

Karl said that the Public Hearing for the Vanicky Resubdivision should be set at the next meeting.

The engineer for the property described the resubdivision in detail. The application was approved by Torrington Area Health and is currently in front of Inland Wetlands. There has not been a subdivision plan from the surveyor submitted to Karl as of the time of the meeting. Commission members expressed some concern over future access of abutting property because of the odd configuration of the Vanicky parcel and placement of the dwelling. The property is surrounded by wetlands. Anne Kosciusko said that the resubdivision would be on the agenda at the next P&Z meeting.

OLD BUSNESS (continued)

There was nothing to report on Sign Enforcement.

Rick reported that four out of the seven GIS maps were done, by HVA. The Aerial Photo map was too dark, and options were being discussed on how to ameliorate it. Emilie said that the Cultural Resources map was well underway but exactly how things should be symbolized was being worked out. Rick spoke about the Agricultural Resources map, which Chris was in charge of. Chris had left the meeting, so Rick was not up-to-date with him yet. He suggested talking to HVA. He said that all maps would be done in the next few months.

David suggested that the Commission wait to vote on his Open Space Guidelines until all members were present. Anne agreed that this would be appropriate. There was consensus from other members. Pat Hare spoke about a forum that he and a few other members had attended, where Jim Gibbons had presented a strong argument for strict Open Space Guidelines. Pat suggested that the Commission invite Mr. Gibbons to do a similar forum (and others) for Cornwall residents. Anne agreed that educating landowners in town about these Guidelines was important. Pat said he would call Mr. Gibbons and try to set up a time for early this summer. Tom McGowan suggested seeing what other communities who had enacted these guidelines had to say. He also said that it would be important to prioritize what pieces of land were most valuable to the Commission in terms of preservation through Open Space Guidelines. This would aid in future decision making.

Anne, Tom and First Selectman Gordon Ridgway met with the owners/developers of the River Road property in the NW corner of town. There seemed to be some interest in talking to HVA, TPL or the Nature Conservancy on the part of the owners. Gordon plans on meeting with the State to see if they are interested in purchasing this wetlands/river-front property. It seemed to Tom that the owners were in the very early stages of the development process. Pat and Tom discussed some strategies for dealing with impending development. A motion to pull together any and all free resources for addressing development opportunities and limits on the property was carried. Land Use Clerk Colin Gold was to spearhead this project with the help of Tom McGowan. Colin and Tom will periodically report to the Commission what they discover.

COMMUNICATIONS

There were no communications.

ADJOURNMENT

The meeting was adjourned at 11:03 pm.

Colin Gold, Land Use Clerk

NOTE – THESE MINUTES ARE A DRAFT. THEY WILL BE NOTED AS FINAL ONLY AFTER THEY ARE REVIEWED AND APPROVED AS DRAFTED OR AS MODIFIED AT A SUBSEQUENT MEETING OF THE CORNWALL P&Z COMMISSION.